


everyone just needs some space

by cheapsushi



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: Angst, Feelings Realization, ITS ALL ANGST, M/M, Space themes, Who hurt him, idk this fic is a mess, jeff is an angsty floof, kinda????, unrequited feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 09:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17383778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheapsushi/pseuds/cheapsushi
Summary: everyone knew that everything in the solar system revolved around the sun.hana was the sun. austin was the earth.hana meant the world to austin.in comparison to hana, jeff would only be the moon.





	everyone just needs some space

**Author's Note:**

> lol im at school rn but have this crappy thing ive been working on for like three weeks
> 
> also im posting this from my phone, so sorry that the spacing is all weird ill fix it probably (it’s fixed now!)
> 
> have a good day y’all :D

Everyone knew that everything in the Solar System, from the planets to the countless bits of space debris, revolved around the Sun.

This being said, it made sense that Asagao Academy should follow the same rule.

Everyone at Asagao revolved around the Sun, but in a different fashion.

In this story, Hana was the Sun. 

Bright and inspiring, the Sun brought life to those around her. Everything seemed to constantly spin around her, whether it be for better or for worse. If she were to suddenly disappear, liveliness would go down with her. Meaning would simply cease to exist.

In this story, Austin was the Earth.

The Earth constantly trailed the Sun, followed her and idolized her to an extent. The Sun fueled the Earth for success. The Earth needed her for his passion, his motivation, his purpose. 

The Sun completed the Earth.

Hana completed Austin.

This fact was never questioned, Austin was always just the liveliest satellite in orbit.

But what if a satellite didn’t have to selectively orbit the Sun?

Jeff was living proof of this.

In this story, Jeff was the Moon.

The Moon was always there for the Earth, following him and shaping him as a companion. This companionship was purely coincidental, a collision in the right place and time. After that, the Earth and the Moon were together through it all.

With the greatest certainty, Jeff thought nothing could split him from Austin. They’d do everything together, just the two of them taking on the universe.

Boy, Jeff had no idea how wrong he was.

After Hana and Austin finally cut the bullshit and got together, it was like Jeff was just a thing of the past; Austin had reunited with someone who was more important than his best friend.

It stung, seeing them together. Jeff was pushed aside, left to collect dust as Austin and Hana thrived. 

It was strange, though. He was  _supposed_ to be happy for them, Austin was his best friend after all!

So, Jeff made an attempt to distance himself from any lingering discontent to the point where it couldn’t resurface.

It didn’t work.

What was he all upset about? 

Sure, Austin hung out with him less, but it shouldn’t have been such a big deal. Austin deserved to spend time with his girlfriend, and Jeff wasn’t about to try and infringe on their relationship.

Was he jealous?

This made sense for a while, surely he was just jealous of Austin, even though it was extremely against Bro Code.

Hana was bright and pretty and all, so it made sense that he had a crush on her, too.

Right?

Even though Jeff desperately wanted that to be the answer, that simply wasn’t true.

Yes, Hana was a good person, but he definitely didn’t like her the same way Austin did.

Jeff’s second theory was that he was jealous of the _both_ of them.

They seemed to be the perfect couple; the reunited childhood best friends with a slow burn buildup, who wouldn’t want that?

This made sense for a while, they’d been attached at the hip since they got together.

They looked so happy, like they didn’t have a care in the world.

Austin always had her.

The way he smiled at her... surely Jeff just wanted something like that, right?

 

The tap on Jeff’s shoulder snapped him back to reality. “Hey, you in there?”

Jeff turned his stare from the Normal Boots table and put his attention onto Ian. “Yeah, why?” 

“You’re kind of staring at the two lovebirds over there.”

Jeff returned his gaze back to the ‘lovebirds’ for barely a moment. Austin had his arm slung around Hana’s shoulders, making her chuckle with whatever was on his phone screen.

Jeff’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, was I?”

Ian nodded. “You do that a lot now. Everything alright?”

Jeff shrugged. “I dunno, man, I guess I’ve been a bit spacey lately,” He gave a weak, unconvincing smile. “You don’t need to worry about me.” 

“Dude, you know you can’t lie to me. I can see through all of your foggy walls of bullshit. You can tell me what’s wrong, it’s not like I’m gonna judge you.”

The hamster’s shoulders slumped, defeated. “I guess I just... I miss Austin, kind of,” Jeff sighed deeply. “He’s always with Hana, and even when we do hang out he drags Hana along with us.”

A small silence followed before Ian spoke up again. “So you’re... jealous? Of Hana?”

Jeff shrugged. “I think? I mean, I just want my best friend back.”

“Wow, thanks, I feel so loved.”

“No, no, it’s not like that!” Jeff jumped to clarify, ready to go on a tangent. “It’s just- Austin and I have always been close, y’know? And now it’s just... done.” 

A hole started to eat up Jeff from the inside, but he couldn’t stop now, not when all of his emotions were begging to be vented.

“It’s all done. Now, I’m just in Hana’s shadow. It’s like I’m always one step behind, and he’s following her like she’s some goddess. Don’t get me wrong, Hana’s incredible!” 

Ian nodded, listening intently.

“But it’s like I’ve been replaced. I miss all of the fun we had together. I miss sneaking out way past curfew to hang out outside on the soccer field. I miss every laugh, every smile, every second we spent together.”

Ian chuckled, sarcastically. “Man, I think I’m contagious.”

Jeff didn’t think that he wanted to hear what Ian had to say. “What... do you mean, exactly?”

“You’ve caught the gay.”

One second passed. Then two. Then three. Then it didn’t even matter how many seconds passed because Jeff was frozen between time and space as Ian continued on a completely different subject.

Ian was joking. But he wasn’t wrong.

 

He... had a crush on him.

 

He had a crush on _Austin_.

 

He, Jeff Fabre, had a _crush_ on his _best_ _friend_ , Austin Hargrave.

 

Fuck.

_Fuuuuck._

 

Hours passed, then several more as he lied awake that night, idly tracing the oak boards of Caddy’s bunk above him.

It wasn’t like he could sleep anyway, his whole life as he knew it had just been flipped out from under him.

_Everything_ was starting to make sense now.

The rush of adrenaline in his chest as he snuck around campus with him late at night wasn’t just nerves. The pride he felt when he got him to laugh so hard that he couldn’t breathe wasn’t just because he told a total kickass joke. The flutter he got in his stomach whenever he smiled wasn’t just because his best friend was happy.

 

The pain in his heart wasn’t just because he missed his best friend.

 

It was because he missed out on what could’ve been something more.

 

Jeff would never have an opportunity to tell him how he really felt. He’d be stuck on repeat, forced to live the same agonizing scenes over and over, watching Austin go on without him.

This situation was arguably simple before; a quirky best friend duo, broken apart by a new lover, you see that everyday. But now, turns out he was a gay pining over his totally one-hundred percent straight best friend, jealous of a pink haired girl who totally scored in the guy department.

Now _that_ was something you’d only see in fanfiction.

Jeff huffed loudly in frustration, turning on his side. From above him, he heard his roommate snore in his sleep, oblivious to the mental predicament below him.

Without thought, Jeff turned on his phone, meeting face to face with the time: the ripe time of 1:37 in the morning. He had classes tomorrow, not to mention tests, and a Hidden Block meeting after school tomorrow, too. It was too late to be so butthurt about something like this, but it was practically impossible to sleep.

So, like any rational being in a situation such as this, Jeff got up, slipped on his jacket, and got out the door. 

 

His footsteps were noticeably loud as he shuffled in his sneakers down the hall towards the spirals of stairs. He almost stopped and turned back around, thinking about what a stupid idea this was- it wouldn’t be good for his rep as a class president candidate if word got out he was sneaking around in the middle of the night for an unexplained reason- but his feet continued on, somehow with a mind of their own.

He didn’t even know where he was going with this, but he kept going. Kept moving forward, up another flight of stairs, and onto the rooftop.

The nighttime breeze hit him like a slap in the face, ruffling his hair and chilling him down to his bones.

It was especially cold tonight, and every star was visible, taunting him, just out of reach.

He wished he could visit the stars. They were always there, even when you couldn’t see them. They were something to go back to, works of art, guides if you knew where to look.

Jeff didn’t know where to look anymore.

He walked over to the railing, crossing his arms on the frigid metal.

The moon was full tonight, and it cast a vibrant glow across the dark, inky backdrop of the night sky.

What felt like years passed, staring at the night. With a sigh, he collected himself, and forced himself to leave. This wasn’t going to do him any good, he had more important things to worry about. Eventually, this crush would pass, and Jeff was aware of that.

It didn’t stop the wondering, though.

He’s left wondering if he meant as much to Austin as Austin meant to him.

**Author's Note:**

> ouch man
> 
> im still working on asagao stuff, but recently i did a dumb and accidentally erased like 1000+ words that i can’t get back of some shana fluff i was working on, so im a bit bummed about it. :(
> 
> anyway, thanks for reading, ill probably post something new soonish, maybe a week or two. 
> 
> byeeeee :D

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Dreamer Boys](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18222038) by [cheapsushi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheapsushi/pseuds/cheapsushi), [ghostlerhost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlerhost/pseuds/ghostlerhost)




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